Post by Pavane on May 14, 2012 20:42:02 GMT -5
Bone - male dog (mastiff)
Liara - female dog (collie)
Jethro - male dog (bulldog)
Chua - male dog (chow mix)
Rask - male dog (mix)
Toby - male dog (boxer)
---Hilltop Vista---
The scents of wolves still linger on this hilltop... but spread over them is the stink of dog. The multicolored fur, shed over the grass and rocks. The strewn carcasses of spring's baby animals, small bones picked over by a hungry pack. The air is warm, and the sun is bright overhead.
Bone lies at the peak of the hill, for no lesser position will do for his stature. The sun is warm on his fur, but his mood is a dark one. A half-eaten hare lies on the ground before him, and though he stares at it with hungry eyes, he does not lower his head to eat; only surveys the land before him, casting his eyes over it. A fly buzzes at his injured shoulder, and he snarls and snaps back at it ineffectively.
Beside Bone crouches Liara, the tri-color collie's tail tucked down between her legs. She tugs a strip of meat from the hare, carefully chewing it without swallowing. At Bone's snarl, her ears fall back and she whines softly, continuing to chew the meat before meekly depositing it on a flat bit of rock next to the red-and-white mastiff.
Jethro is making his way towards the hilltop, tail lashing while he moves along, large paws crunch down upon a few sticks and leaves while he goes. A faint grin offered to a few dogs while he leaps up onto a place and soon drops down to his haunches. A yawn escapes his floppy maw and he gives himself a good shake. His wounds are healing, an he didn't get out to badly from the fight really. A glance is sent towards Bone at the sudden snarl he catches, ears slowly perking and a brow lifts curiously before he takes in a faint breath. "Yo.. How's the shoulder Boss?" Is questioned with a curious tone more then anything. He seems a bit..grouchy..
Unlike Bone, Chua has no beautiful, whipped female to chew his food for him; and for this, he is in a sour mood. Having seen his prize escape with the rest of the pack, the fluffy chow-mix is skulking about in cicles that sweep about the den at the base of the hill, winding around Bone and his collie girl, floppy ears lain back as far as they'll go. At length, he comes to stop near bone and Liara, scowls down at the skull of a picked apart fawn, and swings a paw at it, sending it tumbling away in small bounces. His shoulder has been sore, and he's kept it from stiffening by walking and walking.
"Better," says Bone to Jethro. Of course, he'd say that regardless, for what leader wishes to give his subordinates a picture of anything less than perfect health - but in truth, the shoulder is healing well. It has the full range of motion, and though there's still raw flesh, there's no infection to it. More problematic have been the wounds to his jaw, and they provide the second reason for his shortness. Speech is painful; eating, equally so, even when the food has been obligingly turned into the sort of squished pulp puppies eat. He curls up his upper lip as he lowers his head to eat what Liara provides. The mastiff's jaws work slowly, swallowing down the food he needs for his health's return. Chua's outburst makes him look up, and his head lifts; high even when lying down, here with the advantage of the hill's height.
Liara shrinks back at even the glances from Chua. Here near Bone, she's safe from most of the other dogs, and yet lately tensions have been high and even that safety has seemed fragile. She lowers her eyes, focusing on the hare as she tears off another strip and begins to chew.
Rask sprawls near the base of the hill, and he returns Jethro's nod before lowering his head to his paws. The brown dog gives a wurf of a sigh, staring up at Bone, Chua... oh, and especially Liara. It really is unfair how Bone monopolizes her time. The mastiff doesn't even properly appreciate her.
Jethro sends his gaze towards Chua, a brow lifting as he watches the other and a faint grin soon works across his maw. "Don't worry Chua.. We're get your little friend back I'm sure." He could almost figure out what was eating at the other male, not that he totally agreed with it mind you. His forepaws grip at the soil behind them a few times and a curt nod is sent to Bone. "Good." Is offered in a short to the point answer. Ah yes the wounds to ones mouth can indeed be very painful. His bright gaze settles on Liara, feeling a pang of regert for the female, but when Bone has his sights on something no one can stop him.
The chow-mix turns a snarl at Jethro's lip and grinning smartbuttmaw. "Watch your tongue." he snaps sharply, before Chua then grumps his way over to a place nearby and whumps his way over on his side, starting to chew at the pads of his forepaws, picking troublesome bits of dirt from them darkly. This is good land, good territory, but still, what is the point of having good land, food apleanty, and a den without something to make use of it? He grumbles darkly over his paw, then snaps sharply, "We've got neighbors here you know, Jethro. You don't have to keep starin' at Liara. There's coyotes over by the river, go find yourself a nice coyote ***** to take up."
Out from the blood-soaked den crawls Toby. The boxer has not been doing all that well; he's still weak from his injuries. It's visible in the way he staggers, in the unsteadiness of his paws as he climbs out. From the way he's been hiding in a hole in the ground, even, when most of the dogs have been avoiding the blood-spattered, wolf-stinking place. He pants, and on the exhale of his pant is a growl. Toby does not like being weak. His gaze falls on the hare near Bone, and his stomach growls its own tune.
"Get your own," says Bone to Toby, lifting up his upper lip again. This one is his... even if he can't quite eat it himself. Even if he needs... help. His lips stays curled at the thought... and at Jethro's stare, as Chua brings it to his attention. Speaking of Chua... heh. "Where's yours?" he asks the chow mix. Chua will know who he means well enough.
As for Liara, the object of many stares... if she could shrink further in on herself, she would. She trembles, just a little, and deposits another little pre-chewed morsel of Bone's food.
Jethro rolls his eyes a he hears Chua, he shifts to scratch at his side a few times. "Please.. As if a coyote could handle /me/." He offers with a snort but that's all he'll offer to Chua seeing how he is in such a sour mood. His stired the pot enough it seems. Though his gaze did not rest on Liara for long, his attention goes to Toby and he smirks faintly. A faint shake of his head seen as he watches the boxer. "An't looking well there bud.. Want me to help you dig a hole for yourself?" Hell that is more help then any other dog in the pack would give! An Jethro did feel bad for the young hound dog that didn't make it that the one wolf got, an he at least did that for the boy. Ah, the life in a pack of dogs. Where Jethro was the alpha in his hog hunting pack here everything is different. He is a tease, and he tends to get away with it as long his not teasing Bone and Chua all that long his found. An the boxer looks his basicly on death's door already.
Chua's ears flatten again as the grumpy dog scowls at Jethro. Its HIS fault Bone has to be informed of this now, oh yes. "She ran off with the other wolves," he says, growling annoyedly into one paw, "Apparently, this was her pack. I suppose she's pissed off at what we done, but I don't care. Let her run. She'll have to come back eventually, you think they'll really want to care for my brats after what we've done to their home?" He smirks roguishly, adding, "Besides. They'll probably rip her a new one thinking she lead us here or something. Wolves're stupid like that." His eyes fall on the boxer, and his ears lay back. The already wounded Toby makes for a tempting target. "You're soundin' a bit mad there. Maybe we should stop yer 'suffrin' just in case."
Toby looks aside at Bone's snapped comment, though his lip curls as Jethro speaks. He may be weak, but he doesn't need /pity/. At Chua's comment, that lip finishes rising, and he snarls. "Maybe /you/ should get your ass out there and hunt." He looks over the other dogs, sprawled out and resting, and then back to Chua. "Or are you too good for that these days, you... wolf-lover?" And an unsuccessful one, at that!
As Chua reveals the fate of his toy, Bone laughs... though that makes him wince from how it moves his jaw, and the scowl resumes its place there. "Or die in a hole somewhere," he says with a shrug and a glance for Toby. The boxer sure doesn't look good, does he? Maybe it's time for Bone to consider on a new beta.
Jethro just grins as he hears Toby an soon shifts up to his paws, tail lashing a few times. "Really... An... why would we hunt for you Toby? It would be a waste of a good meal." While Jehtro likes to tease he can be down right nasty fella when he feels the need. He lifts a forepaw, toes wiggling. "I give you three days tops, then the infection that is growing will take yer little life." A sly grin crosses his thick liped maw. "You can dig your own hole then. Or I'll make sure to leave you out for the ravens, and foxes to feast upon your flesh."
Chua's eyes narrow, and the Boxer is given a snort, as Chua shifts to his feet, shoulders bristling. He starts skulking toward the badly off boxer, perhaps thinking the same thing as Bone - time for a /new/ Beta around here, and perhaps, just perhaps, Chua will be better for that position if /he/ is the one who does off with Toby. "Why should we hunt for someone who couldn't even hold his own against a bunch of stupid wolves when he had backing from an entire pack?" He growls low, as he starts closer to the wounded boxer, head starting to go low, tail arcing over his back. "Jethro may have all the good looks of a mangled boar's arse, but he's got a good point. You're only a few steps away from Death, Toby ol' boy, and you're the one who spends all his time in that wolf-stinking hole in the ground, while we secure the land around here, and we hunt."
Toby draws himself up, but the square shoulders of a boxer don't mean much when there's a tremble to them that he can't hide. He's got nothing that can't be recovered from - if he had the time, the care and support to manage it. Fat chance of that, around here. Toby growls, looking to Bone briefly, to Jethro, and then to Chua again. His legs stiff, he steps closer. "I didn't see you doing much better, Chua. Or did I miss the wolves you killed? Oh, wait. There aren't any, because you love them even more than Rayna does." Weak Toby may be, but one thing he's not is a coward. ...or sensible enough to back down.
Bone watches the other dogs taunt Toby, and he says nothing. There's no support to be had from him; Toby had the position of beta from his strength, and if that strength is gone... well, there are other dogs here that might have strength enough to serve. Other dogs who were alphas once, when they ran in different packs. Bone keeps his eyes on the scene before him, lowering his head to take up a morsel of pre-gnawed meat.
Jethro chuckles softly, it's a low dark sound as is escapes his chest. He slowly shifts forward, towards the other side of Toby to keep him from attemping to go back into the den. His large head tilts, a ear twitching towards Chua at that compliment. A faint roll of his eyes seen. "Gee.. Thanks sweetness." Escapes him tone clearly joking at being called a boars butt. He catches the tremble from Toby and his head lowers, piercing eyes narrowing and he lashes out with snapping jaws towards the boxer's hind legs, a teasing move as his jaws hit nothing but air as it just isn't close enough to land a bite.. Yet.. "Please Toby.. don't get rude.. You didn't kill any wolves either from what I saw. At least Chua injured them, what did you do other then drool on them? Can you even bit something with that mouth of yours?" Boxes and Bulldogs are somewhat close in head shape, but Jethro's is massive compard to Toby, and his muzzle longer so he can do more damage.
Chua watches. The tremble is noted; and Bone's lack of stepping in is as good as an approval as Chua needs. Stiff legged, the chow-mix lunges in to snap at Toby's foreshoulder with sharp teeth, NOT so much a tease as the bulldog. This time, at least, it's meant to remind the boxer: Chua is neither as badly injured, nor as benevolent as Jethro when insulted. The action is meant to worry a wound, then hold the boxer in place; as Chua growls sharply, trying to assert over the weaker, badly wounded dog.
Toby snarls to Jethro, but his attempt to dodge the snap of jaws does nothing but remind him of how weak his legs are. One of those hindlegs gives way a little, and he stumbles instead of dodging. Chua's teeth find their mark as well, and Toby yelps involuntarily as those teeth take already pained flesh. He growls, twisting his head, fighting for that dominance he once claimed with little effort... but with his weakness, even catching at Chua's thick fur proves almost as much of a challenge as he's capable for. After a brief struggle, each of his twists sending more pain through his body, the boxer relaxes unwilling muscles, his ears going back in unhappy submission as his body sinks so far as the chow mix's jaws will let it.
Yes, the time has come for a new beta. Bone ignores the latest bit of food Liara offers him, and instead pushes himself to his feet. He, at least, can stand without shuddering - and though his jaw pains him, he can summon the will to speak if he so chooses. He so chooses now. "Jethro. Chua." His gaze goes briefly to each, ignoring Toby between them. The boxer is of no further concern to him; not now. "I think it's time we learned more about our territory, instead of lying about." He gives a slight glare to Rask, sprawled out with his head on his paws. "Don't you?" says Bone to the two dogs who have placed themelves as contenders for the position for which Toby has been found unsuitable. His gaze favors neither of them... yet.
Liara makes herself small as Bone rises. Her eyes go to Chua and to Jethro, not looking higher than their feet.. and skimming over Toby entirely. It's no good to be seen involved with someone like that. Bad enough she talked to him before, when he was beta. Maybe that can be forgotten.
Rask snorts as Bone stares at him, and rises ostentatiously to his paws. He shakes himself out, mutters something not unlike a 'Yessir!' and turns away at an easy lope. Time to find a new place to nap! One with fewer ambitions making things busy.
Jethro presses forward as Toby's form falters.. Though Chua is the one that lands the first hit. A scowl crosses his face while he snorts and steps back, hackles slightly raised but they soon smooth out as Bone's voice catches his attention. With Toby giving in to Chua he only grins at the boxer, a evil, dark look across his face. If Chua doesn't finsh the boxer, Jethro just might. Though his attention turn to Bone, a stiff nod is given along with a shift of his paws which pushes him away from Chua an Toby. "Of course Boss." Is offered with a flick of his tail an slight nod.
Chua gives a growled, cruel twist of his jaws against Toby's shoulder as the boxer goes prone and submissive, letting go only once the other dog has properly subjected. He snorts at the boxer, letting level brown eyes fall on him with a smirk curling across his bloody maw, before he turns, ears perked, and barks sharply, "Of course, Bone." He turns to follow the mastiff; the larger dog is easily Alpha both because of size and ruthlessness, but Chua has no problem vying against Jethro for the position of Beta; which comes with perks. Such as eating second, having the pick of a den, and other things. Toby has been disciplined, put in his place. And as Jethro has said, there's no longer any point to hunt for him.. Toby is now on his own.
Toby sinks to the ground as Chua releases him, ears still back and his tail slowly curling in between his legs. He's lost. That much is clear. He remains where he is until the other dogs have departed, then tries to slink up and take some of Liara's hare.
Bone nods, and starts down the hill at a long-legged walk. He's favoring his shoulder... but only a little. Perhaps the other dogs could take him, if they worked together, but it would be no easy task. Until then, Bone is still in charge; and he'll act the part, leading the way for an exploration of this territory and watching Chua and Jethro as they taunt and wrestle with each other to be acknowledged by a position at his side.
When Toby comes slinking up to Liara, the meek collie growls to him warningly. This is Bone's hare - and if it's not Bone's, why then, it's hers. Either way, it's not for the likes of him. Toby, once beta... will just have to slink away and try to fend for himself.
Jethro will have no problem dealing with Chua when an if that time comes. He doesn't even look back at Toby knowing that is a done deal, he'll die sooner or later, an hopfully sooner for Toby. His hackles raised as he trots along, head lifted high as he continues next to Bone as long Chua doesn't go putting his two cents in cause this will make for a long trip if that's the case. For anything Chua says or does will be matched by the large bulldog at the moment.
Liara - female dog (collie)
Jethro - male dog (bulldog)
Chua - male dog (chow mix)
Rask - male dog (mix)
Toby - male dog (boxer)
---Hilltop Vista---
The scents of wolves still linger on this hilltop... but spread over them is the stink of dog. The multicolored fur, shed over the grass and rocks. The strewn carcasses of spring's baby animals, small bones picked over by a hungry pack. The air is warm, and the sun is bright overhead.
Bone lies at the peak of the hill, for no lesser position will do for his stature. The sun is warm on his fur, but his mood is a dark one. A half-eaten hare lies on the ground before him, and though he stares at it with hungry eyes, he does not lower his head to eat; only surveys the land before him, casting his eyes over it. A fly buzzes at his injured shoulder, and he snarls and snaps back at it ineffectively.
Beside Bone crouches Liara, the tri-color collie's tail tucked down between her legs. She tugs a strip of meat from the hare, carefully chewing it without swallowing. At Bone's snarl, her ears fall back and she whines softly, continuing to chew the meat before meekly depositing it on a flat bit of rock next to the red-and-white mastiff.
Jethro is making his way towards the hilltop, tail lashing while he moves along, large paws crunch down upon a few sticks and leaves while he goes. A faint grin offered to a few dogs while he leaps up onto a place and soon drops down to his haunches. A yawn escapes his floppy maw and he gives himself a good shake. His wounds are healing, an he didn't get out to badly from the fight really. A glance is sent towards Bone at the sudden snarl he catches, ears slowly perking and a brow lifts curiously before he takes in a faint breath. "Yo.. How's the shoulder Boss?" Is questioned with a curious tone more then anything. He seems a bit..grouchy..
Unlike Bone, Chua has no beautiful, whipped female to chew his food for him; and for this, he is in a sour mood. Having seen his prize escape with the rest of the pack, the fluffy chow-mix is skulking about in cicles that sweep about the den at the base of the hill, winding around Bone and his collie girl, floppy ears lain back as far as they'll go. At length, he comes to stop near bone and Liara, scowls down at the skull of a picked apart fawn, and swings a paw at it, sending it tumbling away in small bounces. His shoulder has been sore, and he's kept it from stiffening by walking and walking.
"Better," says Bone to Jethro. Of course, he'd say that regardless, for what leader wishes to give his subordinates a picture of anything less than perfect health - but in truth, the shoulder is healing well. It has the full range of motion, and though there's still raw flesh, there's no infection to it. More problematic have been the wounds to his jaw, and they provide the second reason for his shortness. Speech is painful; eating, equally so, even when the food has been obligingly turned into the sort of squished pulp puppies eat. He curls up his upper lip as he lowers his head to eat what Liara provides. The mastiff's jaws work slowly, swallowing down the food he needs for his health's return. Chua's outburst makes him look up, and his head lifts; high even when lying down, here with the advantage of the hill's height.
Liara shrinks back at even the glances from Chua. Here near Bone, she's safe from most of the other dogs, and yet lately tensions have been high and even that safety has seemed fragile. She lowers her eyes, focusing on the hare as she tears off another strip and begins to chew.
Rask sprawls near the base of the hill, and he returns Jethro's nod before lowering his head to his paws. The brown dog gives a wurf of a sigh, staring up at Bone, Chua... oh, and especially Liara. It really is unfair how Bone monopolizes her time. The mastiff doesn't even properly appreciate her.
Jethro sends his gaze towards Chua, a brow lifting as he watches the other and a faint grin soon works across his maw. "Don't worry Chua.. We're get your little friend back I'm sure." He could almost figure out what was eating at the other male, not that he totally agreed with it mind you. His forepaws grip at the soil behind them a few times and a curt nod is sent to Bone. "Good." Is offered in a short to the point answer. Ah yes the wounds to ones mouth can indeed be very painful. His bright gaze settles on Liara, feeling a pang of regert for the female, but when Bone has his sights on something no one can stop him.
The chow-mix turns a snarl at Jethro's lip and grinning smartbuttmaw. "Watch your tongue." he snaps sharply, before Chua then grumps his way over to a place nearby and whumps his way over on his side, starting to chew at the pads of his forepaws, picking troublesome bits of dirt from them darkly. This is good land, good territory, but still, what is the point of having good land, food apleanty, and a den without something to make use of it? He grumbles darkly over his paw, then snaps sharply, "We've got neighbors here you know, Jethro. You don't have to keep starin' at Liara. There's coyotes over by the river, go find yourself a nice coyote ***** to take up."
Out from the blood-soaked den crawls Toby. The boxer has not been doing all that well; he's still weak from his injuries. It's visible in the way he staggers, in the unsteadiness of his paws as he climbs out. From the way he's been hiding in a hole in the ground, even, when most of the dogs have been avoiding the blood-spattered, wolf-stinking place. He pants, and on the exhale of his pant is a growl. Toby does not like being weak. His gaze falls on the hare near Bone, and his stomach growls its own tune.
"Get your own," says Bone to Toby, lifting up his upper lip again. This one is his... even if he can't quite eat it himself. Even if he needs... help. His lips stays curled at the thought... and at Jethro's stare, as Chua brings it to his attention. Speaking of Chua... heh. "Where's yours?" he asks the chow mix. Chua will know who he means well enough.
As for Liara, the object of many stares... if she could shrink further in on herself, she would. She trembles, just a little, and deposits another little pre-chewed morsel of Bone's food.
Jethro rolls his eyes a he hears Chua, he shifts to scratch at his side a few times. "Please.. As if a coyote could handle /me/." He offers with a snort but that's all he'll offer to Chua seeing how he is in such a sour mood. His stired the pot enough it seems. Though his gaze did not rest on Liara for long, his attention goes to Toby and he smirks faintly. A faint shake of his head seen as he watches the boxer. "An't looking well there bud.. Want me to help you dig a hole for yourself?" Hell that is more help then any other dog in the pack would give! An Jethro did feel bad for the young hound dog that didn't make it that the one wolf got, an he at least did that for the boy. Ah, the life in a pack of dogs. Where Jethro was the alpha in his hog hunting pack here everything is different. He is a tease, and he tends to get away with it as long his not teasing Bone and Chua all that long his found. An the boxer looks his basicly on death's door already.
Chua's ears flatten again as the grumpy dog scowls at Jethro. Its HIS fault Bone has to be informed of this now, oh yes. "She ran off with the other wolves," he says, growling annoyedly into one paw, "Apparently, this was her pack. I suppose she's pissed off at what we done, but I don't care. Let her run. She'll have to come back eventually, you think they'll really want to care for my brats after what we've done to their home?" He smirks roguishly, adding, "Besides. They'll probably rip her a new one thinking she lead us here or something. Wolves're stupid like that." His eyes fall on the boxer, and his ears lay back. The already wounded Toby makes for a tempting target. "You're soundin' a bit mad there. Maybe we should stop yer 'suffrin' just in case."
Toby looks aside at Bone's snapped comment, though his lip curls as Jethro speaks. He may be weak, but he doesn't need /pity/. At Chua's comment, that lip finishes rising, and he snarls. "Maybe /you/ should get your ass out there and hunt." He looks over the other dogs, sprawled out and resting, and then back to Chua. "Or are you too good for that these days, you... wolf-lover?" And an unsuccessful one, at that!
As Chua reveals the fate of his toy, Bone laughs... though that makes him wince from how it moves his jaw, and the scowl resumes its place there. "Or die in a hole somewhere," he says with a shrug and a glance for Toby. The boxer sure doesn't look good, does he? Maybe it's time for Bone to consider on a new beta.
Jethro just grins as he hears Toby an soon shifts up to his paws, tail lashing a few times. "Really... An... why would we hunt for you Toby? It would be a waste of a good meal." While Jehtro likes to tease he can be down right nasty fella when he feels the need. He lifts a forepaw, toes wiggling. "I give you three days tops, then the infection that is growing will take yer little life." A sly grin crosses his thick liped maw. "You can dig your own hole then. Or I'll make sure to leave you out for the ravens, and foxes to feast upon your flesh."
Chua's eyes narrow, and the Boxer is given a snort, as Chua shifts to his feet, shoulders bristling. He starts skulking toward the badly off boxer, perhaps thinking the same thing as Bone - time for a /new/ Beta around here, and perhaps, just perhaps, Chua will be better for that position if /he/ is the one who does off with Toby. "Why should we hunt for someone who couldn't even hold his own against a bunch of stupid wolves when he had backing from an entire pack?" He growls low, as he starts closer to the wounded boxer, head starting to go low, tail arcing over his back. "Jethro may have all the good looks of a mangled boar's arse, but he's got a good point. You're only a few steps away from Death, Toby ol' boy, and you're the one who spends all his time in that wolf-stinking hole in the ground, while we secure the land around here, and we hunt."
Toby draws himself up, but the square shoulders of a boxer don't mean much when there's a tremble to them that he can't hide. He's got nothing that can't be recovered from - if he had the time, the care and support to manage it. Fat chance of that, around here. Toby growls, looking to Bone briefly, to Jethro, and then to Chua again. His legs stiff, he steps closer. "I didn't see you doing much better, Chua. Or did I miss the wolves you killed? Oh, wait. There aren't any, because you love them even more than Rayna does." Weak Toby may be, but one thing he's not is a coward. ...or sensible enough to back down.
Bone watches the other dogs taunt Toby, and he says nothing. There's no support to be had from him; Toby had the position of beta from his strength, and if that strength is gone... well, there are other dogs here that might have strength enough to serve. Other dogs who were alphas once, when they ran in different packs. Bone keeps his eyes on the scene before him, lowering his head to take up a morsel of pre-gnawed meat.
Jethro chuckles softly, it's a low dark sound as is escapes his chest. He slowly shifts forward, towards the other side of Toby to keep him from attemping to go back into the den. His large head tilts, a ear twitching towards Chua at that compliment. A faint roll of his eyes seen. "Gee.. Thanks sweetness." Escapes him tone clearly joking at being called a boars butt. He catches the tremble from Toby and his head lowers, piercing eyes narrowing and he lashes out with snapping jaws towards the boxer's hind legs, a teasing move as his jaws hit nothing but air as it just isn't close enough to land a bite.. Yet.. "Please Toby.. don't get rude.. You didn't kill any wolves either from what I saw. At least Chua injured them, what did you do other then drool on them? Can you even bit something with that mouth of yours?" Boxes and Bulldogs are somewhat close in head shape, but Jethro's is massive compard to Toby, and his muzzle longer so he can do more damage.
Chua watches. The tremble is noted; and Bone's lack of stepping in is as good as an approval as Chua needs. Stiff legged, the chow-mix lunges in to snap at Toby's foreshoulder with sharp teeth, NOT so much a tease as the bulldog. This time, at least, it's meant to remind the boxer: Chua is neither as badly injured, nor as benevolent as Jethro when insulted. The action is meant to worry a wound, then hold the boxer in place; as Chua growls sharply, trying to assert over the weaker, badly wounded dog.
Toby snarls to Jethro, but his attempt to dodge the snap of jaws does nothing but remind him of how weak his legs are. One of those hindlegs gives way a little, and he stumbles instead of dodging. Chua's teeth find their mark as well, and Toby yelps involuntarily as those teeth take already pained flesh. He growls, twisting his head, fighting for that dominance he once claimed with little effort... but with his weakness, even catching at Chua's thick fur proves almost as much of a challenge as he's capable for. After a brief struggle, each of his twists sending more pain through his body, the boxer relaxes unwilling muscles, his ears going back in unhappy submission as his body sinks so far as the chow mix's jaws will let it.
Yes, the time has come for a new beta. Bone ignores the latest bit of food Liara offers him, and instead pushes himself to his feet. He, at least, can stand without shuddering - and though his jaw pains him, he can summon the will to speak if he so chooses. He so chooses now. "Jethro. Chua." His gaze goes briefly to each, ignoring Toby between them. The boxer is of no further concern to him; not now. "I think it's time we learned more about our territory, instead of lying about." He gives a slight glare to Rask, sprawled out with his head on his paws. "Don't you?" says Bone to the two dogs who have placed themelves as contenders for the position for which Toby has been found unsuitable. His gaze favors neither of them... yet.
Liara makes herself small as Bone rises. Her eyes go to Chua and to Jethro, not looking higher than their feet.. and skimming over Toby entirely. It's no good to be seen involved with someone like that. Bad enough she talked to him before, when he was beta. Maybe that can be forgotten.
Rask snorts as Bone stares at him, and rises ostentatiously to his paws. He shakes himself out, mutters something not unlike a 'Yessir!' and turns away at an easy lope. Time to find a new place to nap! One with fewer ambitions making things busy.
Jethro presses forward as Toby's form falters.. Though Chua is the one that lands the first hit. A scowl crosses his face while he snorts and steps back, hackles slightly raised but they soon smooth out as Bone's voice catches his attention. With Toby giving in to Chua he only grins at the boxer, a evil, dark look across his face. If Chua doesn't finsh the boxer, Jethro just might. Though his attention turn to Bone, a stiff nod is given along with a shift of his paws which pushes him away from Chua an Toby. "Of course Boss." Is offered with a flick of his tail an slight nod.
Chua gives a growled, cruel twist of his jaws against Toby's shoulder as the boxer goes prone and submissive, letting go only once the other dog has properly subjected. He snorts at the boxer, letting level brown eyes fall on him with a smirk curling across his bloody maw, before he turns, ears perked, and barks sharply, "Of course, Bone." He turns to follow the mastiff; the larger dog is easily Alpha both because of size and ruthlessness, but Chua has no problem vying against Jethro for the position of Beta; which comes with perks. Such as eating second, having the pick of a den, and other things. Toby has been disciplined, put in his place. And as Jethro has said, there's no longer any point to hunt for him.. Toby is now on his own.
Toby sinks to the ground as Chua releases him, ears still back and his tail slowly curling in between his legs. He's lost. That much is clear. He remains where he is until the other dogs have departed, then tries to slink up and take some of Liara's hare.
Bone nods, and starts down the hill at a long-legged walk. He's favoring his shoulder... but only a little. Perhaps the other dogs could take him, if they worked together, but it would be no easy task. Until then, Bone is still in charge; and he'll act the part, leading the way for an exploration of this territory and watching Chua and Jethro as they taunt and wrestle with each other to be acknowledged by a position at his side.
When Toby comes slinking up to Liara, the meek collie growls to him warningly. This is Bone's hare - and if it's not Bone's, why then, it's hers. Either way, it's not for the likes of him. Toby, once beta... will just have to slink away and try to fend for himself.
Jethro will have no problem dealing with Chua when an if that time comes. He doesn't even look back at Toby knowing that is a done deal, he'll die sooner or later, an hopfully sooner for Toby. His hackles raised as he trots along, head lifted high as he continues next to Bone as long Chua doesn't go putting his two cents in cause this will make for a long trip if that's the case. For anything Chua says or does will be matched by the large bulldog at the moment.